THEY ALSO SERVE WHO ARE IN NAVAL HEADQUARTERS! – PART IV – FOR THE LOVE OF NATIONAL LANGUAGE HINDI

People from the South India may not agree and there is a court ruling to the effect that they (the South Indians, that is) are right but most of us regarded Hindi as the national language of India. On the lighter side, after their success in Jallikattu episode, no one locks horns with them.

The reason for our (mistaken) belief was that my tenure in Naval Headquarters coincided with a renewed Hindi drive. Notices had been put in all offices: ‘Is karyalya mein Hindi mein kaam karne ki poori chhoot hai’ (There is full freedom in this office to do official work in Hindi).

I was the junior most of the officers in DOT and hence Lata was duly assigned to me.

Her name-sake hadn’t yet got the Bharat Ratna but I could have given one to Lata any time. I had always prided myself for knowing more than adequate Hindi. However, I soon realised that between my Hindi and Lata’s there was a huge language barrier. There was a further gap between what she took down in shorthand and what she finally typed.

Now, as all of you may know, Indian Navy was very fortunate that at the time of independence, we received from the NATO some of their tactical publications, for the simple reason that we in the Indian Navy used to carry out joint exercises with their navies. They were all in Queen’s English and many of us had problems understanding the true import of the tactical manoeuvres, screens, signals, et al in English itself. Hence, you can imagine the travails of doing official work at Directorate of Tactics in Hindi.

Lata, therefore, sat at her table with a type-writer in front and did crotchet work in summers and knitting in the winters.

All of you must have read my success story about how I finally managed an office for myself in A Block Hutments. This must have proved to you that I am used to converting challenges into opportunities, something that any number of Quotes these days tell you to do. I was ahead of my times, so as to say!

Being quite junior in Naval Headquarters, there were any number of these महारथी (Titans) in various directorates who would want to have the better of me through file-notings and letters. I started replying to them in shudh Hindi complete with such words as अनुलग्नक and संदर्भ.

The effect would be somewhat similar to the last ball six scored by Bhuvan in the 2001 movie Lagaan. Indeed, I kept scoring one ‘six’ after another.

As mentioned in the previous post (‘The Also Serve Who Are In Naval Headquarters! – Part III – A-Block Hutments’) my next appointment was to the DSSC (Defence Srvices Staff College) to undergo the staff and administration course. Halfway through my course, I received an official letter from NHQ that I had been given an award for doing maximum work in Hindi. A cheque for Rupees 500 was enclosed.

People in Directorate of Tactics are invariably posted there because of their strong tactical acumen! Both Lata and I were rewarded for ours: she with Bharat Ratna given by me and me with a cheque for Rupees 500!

About me

I have done a long stint in the Indian Navy that lasted for nearly thirty seven years; I rose as far as my somewhat rebellious and irreverant nature allowed me to. On retirement, in Feb 2010, the first thing that occured to me, and those around me, was that I Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (you will find an article with this title in this blog) and hadn't lost all my noodles and hence thought of a blog titled 'This 'n That'. I later realised that every third blog is called 'This 'n That' and changed the name to 'Sunbyanyname'.
I detest treading the beaten track. This blog offers me to air 'another way' of looking at things. The idea is not just to entertain but also to bring about a change. Should you feel differently, you are free to leave your comments. You can leave comments even when you agree and want to share your own experience about the topic of the blog post.
Impudent or otherwise, I have never been insousciant and I am always concerned about the betterment of community, nation and the world. I hope the visitors of this blog would be able to discern it.